Grove Selection
Quality and prevention begins with the selection of our groves. Through our years of experience, we have learned the history and quality characteristics of the groves in Central Florida and Indian River areas. Groves are classified by soil type, rootstock, variety, and irrigation systems.
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Soil Characteristics:
Semi sandy soils with organic matter are preferred. Soil analyses are performed by an independent laboratory prior to grove selection.
Water Management:
IMG Citrus selects groves that are equipped with proper channels for water discharge and storage (man made ditches). The site should have access to irrigation water with a low salt content
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Age of Trees:
When acquiring existing orchards, older trees are preferred. Younger trees yield puffier fruit, often with lower acid levels, unfit for long distance or late season shipments. Citrus trees come out of juvenility around ten years of age and premium age is achieved between fifteen and twenty years. |
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Location:
The quality of grapefruit depends to a great extent on where it is grown. Because grapefruit requires high heat for a sweet flavor, many people feel the best fruit comes from the warmer areas. In addition to taste considerations, fruit located in proximity to heat sources (bodies of water) and in the southern part of Florida will be less exposed to Freeze risks. |
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The Indian River area is considered a prime location for grapefruit production and is recognized as the best "Terroir". It combines premium weather, soil, and water availability to yield some of the best tasting fruit in the state. For this reason IMG has chosen to concentrate its citrus production in this area.
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| Pest Management: |
| IMG Citrus practices Integrated Pest Management (IPM) to suppress pests and diseases which cause economically unacceptable damage to the grove or the crop. Integrated Pest Management prefers biological and mechanical controls. Chemical pesticides are only used on an as need basis when other methods are not effective or cost efficient. |
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In accordance to IMG's philosophy of sustainable agriculture, each block of fruit is sprayed based on observation and not a pre-established spray schedule. All Pest Management decisions are made in accordance with management's guidelines and policy statement.
Our first focus is to identify and implement all non pesticide measures that will economically prevent pest problems. Our production system must comply with the Food Quality Protection Act as well as all regulatory requirements in the USA, Europe and Japan. Our production system is based on the principles of Integrated Pest Management (IPM).
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| Nutrition |
Fertilizer application rates must be determined by establishing the minimal amount of nutrients that result in desired growth rates and expected tree and fruit quality standards. As irrigation practices impact optimal nutrition rates, the goal of irrigation delivery is to supply the minimum amount of water required by the tree and the fruit crop.
The soils on which citrus trees are grown in Florida are often sandy. The presence of native organic matters varies from orchard to orchard. This impacts the soils ability to retain nutrient elements and the need for supplement nutrition. Our fertilization program aims to provide the trees with a balanced nutrition for optimum quantity and quality of crop. |
| It is our belief that a healthy tree will best provide its fruit with the micro-nutrients necessary to ensure internal, size, skin, strength and shape qualities. Insufficient or excessive nutrition will have an adverse effect on the fruit quality and size. Balanced nutrition entails a very close monitoring of the tree's condition and amount of nutrients available in the soil. |
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Observation:
Tree vigor and soil characteristics are analyzed yearly by soil and leaf analyses. These analyses, accompanied by visual observations, determine the additional nutrients to be provided to the tree through our fertilization program.
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| Water Management: |
| IMG Citrus's water management program seeks to provide the tree with just the right amount of moisture to ensure tree vigor. Tree vigor is achieved by replenishing the trees daily water losses due to evapotranspiration (ET) and runoff. If natural rainfall is not sufficient, IMG Citrus irrigates the trees using a microirrigation system. Our objective is to neither over irrigate the tree nor stress the tree (reduced growth, yields, fruit quality). An over irrigated orchard will favor soil erosion, leaching of nutrients, weed growth, and root rot. |
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An important element of our Water Management Program is to ensure the proper drainage soils so that there is no standing water in the orchard.
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POLLUTION PREVENTION
We direct our efforts to not only prevent damage to the environment but also to beautify and enhance our environment. Our pollution prevention program is based on the following:
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- Involvement of all IMG Citrus employees.
- Systematic and comprehensive internal audits to identify potential pollutants and pollution risks.
- Strict adherence to all compliance regulations.
- Continuous review and improvement of all procedures that impact pollution prevention.
- Systematic monitoring of soil and water for pollution levels.
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| Pruning/Hedging/Topping/Skirting |
The pruning process 1) adjusts tree shape and the ratio of framework to fruit bearing shell of the canopy, 2) alters the top/root ratio, and 3) changes the carbohydrate (food storage) status of the tree. Proper control of vegetative growth is essential for the maintenance of healthy, productive citrus groves.
In IMG Citrus orchards, we use two main methods of pruning: Hand Pruning and Mechanical (i.e. Tree Skirting, Hedging, and Topping.)
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| PROTECTION OF HUMAN HEALTH |
Food safety and employees safety will always be a priority of IMG Citrus. All processes must be designed and monitored to guarantee full protection of the health of the consumers of our products, IMG Citrus employees or sub-contractors and all visitors. It is the responsibility of the leadership team to train all employees on procedures to protect human health and it is the responsibility of each employee to propose continuous improvement of our procedures to protect human health.
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| EFFICIENT NATURAL RESOURCES |
IMG Citrus leadership team is committed to continuously research new methods to optimize the use of energy, water and other natural resources and to minimize wastage. Conservation and use of all natural resources are supported by the most advanced technology made available whenever economically feasible.
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| RECYCLING AND RE-USE OF MATERIALS |
As part of our objective of efficient use of all natural resources, whenever economically feasible, IMG Citrus is committed to recycle and re-use all available materials and waste generated by IMG Citrus. When designing our production processes and when purchasing, we will give priority to products that use recycled material. A cross-functional team must continuously monitor and improve our recycling and re-use of materials processes
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| WILDLIFE AND LANDSCAPE CONSERVATION AND ENHANCEMENT |
A comprehensive Integrated Management Plan for all properties specifies our commitment to wildlife and landscape conservation and enhancement. A selected and qualified Action Team addresses conservation and enhancement of flora, fauna and landscape. The objective of this Action Team is to protect and encourage diversity of wildlife and respect and enhance landscape character.
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